Holy Dirty Paws

Tweet So...That was a long hiatus. Long time, no see and all that jazz.

Straight back to it. I've been desperate to be inspired by music lately because I gotta be honest, I feel a little let down by the amount of stuff that hits the charts these days, not that I regularly listen to that stuff but I've been at a loss to find some good stuff elsewhere.

Like I've said in previous posts, the majority of my favourite songs and rare finds come from TV shows and movies. All my TV shows start back up again in September. Boo. Insert sad face. So beside movies, which have been lacking in truly brilliant under-the-radar tunes from underground, unknown artists, I've been stuck with whatever I can get my ears on.

I'm actually on a classical hit recently. So I'll give you some tunes, including one of my favourite classical songs. Enjoy. 

I really liked this track from Of Monsters and Men but it was just bought to my attention again in the trailer for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig and some other cool people. Looks like an interesting movie but I just really love the song choice, it fits the trailer perfectly. (If I could post the trailer I would but it's pretty much blocked everywhere at the moment but you can try here) 
Of Monsters and Men - Dirty Paws 


After just listening to this, it's been driving me mad that it completely reminds me of another track, after searching my brain for a few minutes I remembered a certain car advert that's been played on TV very recently. So below I have 'Home' by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Heroes.

Although pretty catchy, I don't think I could listen to this track over and over again. I basically wanted to post it so you could see the similarities in the two tracks. Also, it's a far longer track than it needs to be. Needs to be said. 

This next track I heard from the movie The Disappearance of Alice Creed, not a film I would normally take time out to watch but it was on TV so I decided to give it a shot. I actually thought it was pretty good and this song ends the film on a pretty awesome note. Such a chill, eerie track. Her voice reminds me of someone else but I'll have to get back to you on that one.
Cathy Davey - Holy Moly


Now this one I heard during an interview I think, looking at the comments on youtube it's obviously been featured on ASOS so I probably heard it there most likely. Hell if I remember, plus Shazam has lost all my hits :( Had to reset my phone, you'd think that Shazam would keep the tracks that you've searched out!
Anyway, haven't heard of this chick before but I love her voice and the songs got a good summer beat to it.
YADi - The Blow


I was going to end this post here with my classical piece but then youtube auto-play started this other track which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. It's so brilliant. I heard this on the last season of the Vampire Diaries (it's also played in the new Romeo & Juliet trailer). I thought it played during a particularly heartbreaking moment in the series but I don't think it was, at least not compared to the other truly heartbreaking moments from that series. Damn that show and my tears!! Anyway, I listened to some of her other stuff but it's not as great as this one, but you should definitely give her album Conatus a listen.
Zola Jesus - Skin


And finally, a bit of classical culture shock to the system before I drop off to sleep.
This has to be my favourite classical piece ever, I think. Love it.
Camille Saint-saëns - Danse Macabre 


That should keep you occupied while I take another 3 month hiatus... I swear it won't be so long next time. 
Enjoy. 

~HL
P.S. Feel free to give me some music suggestions cause I haven't got many at the moment. The good news is, only 5 days until The Civil Wars new album is released. YAY!

P.P.S. You should all watch Pacific Rim and witness the fineness that is Charlie Hunnam. YUM. 

If there's a future, we want it NOW!

Tweet New year. New look.

Yes, I've finally managed to find time to change the blog. Now that I've figured it out a little, and as I learn more about HTML codes (man, are they a minefield), I'll hopefully update this to look a lot better over the next few months. 

As I was doing all this at 4am last night, I was randomly listening to songs on my iPod and found some that I wanted to share in this post. 

First up is a song by a band I think I may have already mentioned, Young The Giant. I heard there song Cough Syrup on the Fright Night soundtrack, which I posted about here. If you haven't heard of them, well get on board.

This is called My Body and is so energetic and verrrrry catchy. Love it. Now, it's in my Vampire Diaries playlist so..well...it must of been played on there. *shrugs*

They're definitely getting more recognition but this is one of my favourite tracks of theirs.

Now for some oldies but goodies. I've just finished re-watching all four seasons of The OC. Cause I'm cool and there's nothing on TV. But whatever you say about that show, you cannot deny the music. It was amazing and featured my all time favourite Music Supervisor, Alexandra Patsavas. 

Band Of Horses - The Ends Not Near

This song features on the 6th and final The OC soundtrack and was actually the title of the final episode of the series. I do love Band of Horses but only in small doses. I don't think I've ever been able to listen to one of their albums all the way through. Great band though!

I might just do a full on The OC music post next because there are a lot of songs I want to put up just from that show, so I'll leave those for next time.

Next up is a bit of Florence + The Machine. Gotta love Florence. I absolutely love Ceremonials and it's an album I come back to over and over again and find a new love for the songs I wasn't as into in the beginning. This is one of those cases. This one is called Bedroom Hymns and I found a completely new love for it when it was used on TV recently. I think it was used over an advertisement of upcoming programmes on one of the channels... Sky maybe or FX, I forget. This is a great song and far too short. 


The final instalment for today is, of course, Paramore. 

Yes, they finally released their first single off their self-titled album, which is out in April. The first listen of Now completely threw me but that was the same feeling I got with Renegade and Hello Cold World. It's so different to their older stuff but I love the direction this is going. Give it a couple of listens and be completely hooked! 

Lost the battle, win the war
I'm bringing my sinking ship back to the shore
Starting over, head back in
There's a time and a place to die but this ain't it!

Love the lyrics too, as always. It's definitely one of those songs that the more you listen to it, the more you like it. This has seriously been on repeat but it's so annoying that you can't download it from itunes until February 18th or something... You have to acquire it other ways, I'm afraid. Hopefully we'll get the video soon, very much looking forward to that!

That's all for now. Hope you like the new look.

~HL

Fright Night (2011)

Tweet Hola Amigos!!!

Greetings. I'd like to thank Daytrotter for the (most likely) unintentional promotion of my last blog post by re-tweeting me, but then again I did essentially promote them. Daytrotter still rules by the way, but you haven't been nagging them, have you??! Because the Marcus Foster session STILL ISN'T UP! It makes me sad. You have no idea just how amazing it was... And we'll never frikking know unless they PUT IT UP!

Anyway, back at the ranch.

I bought Fright Night on DVD. 'Cause it was £3. Can you say bargain? I watched it at the cinema when it came out last year and was surprised that I actually liked it. It's quite funny and very cheesy... It's not a great movie though. It's a popcorn movie, lets face it.

BUT the BEST thing about this movie, besides Colin Farrell, is it's soundtrack. That's why we're here, right?

The song in the credits is by and far the BEST song out of the lot and is so amazing that I completely wore it out last year when I first heard it and now I can barely listen to it. Up until last month, this song was still on my mix CD for my car, that's how awesome it is. Ten months of plays. Seriously, I never been that faithful. And screw Jay Z, who came up with the lyrics and whatnot, this is the ultimate version.
By country/blues singer, Hugo, here is '99 Problems'.


Next up is a song that's played in the beginning of the movie, just after the opening sequence. I absolutely love this song and this guys voice is niiice. Very Bob Dylan, and who the f*ck doesn't love Bob Dylan. 
Alexander - Bad Bad Love 

Next up and last of today because I've got more songs I want to introduce you to another time, is The Blue Van with 'I'm a Man'. Yeah I pretty much just love the guitar in this but listen out for the saxophone solo!


I won't put any more up but I am going to give you some links for some of the other tracks which are frikking awesome. Check them out.

Young The Giant - Cough Syrup
Lupe Fiasco - Letting Go
Kid Cudi - No One Believes Me

Seriously there's more I could put here but I can't find them on Youtube so here is the track listing from the soundtrack. 

I'm out.
Enjoy the songs! 

~HL 

Kingdom Come

Tweet I'm gonna blog the crap out of the Laura Marling gig at the Royal Albert freaking Hall tomorrow.

But right now, after having just watched a really shoddy version of The Hunger Games (because I felt like it) I have to blog a couple of songs from the soundtrack that I've been obsessed with over the last couple of days. They're not even in the actual movie but I realised about a week ago that I'd never actually sat and listened to the whole album. So I did. 'Tis pretty good.


BUT before we get into it... I have to apologise, I've tried to find youtube video's that can be embedded and allow playback from other sites but... Alas, you will find that some record labels will not allow it. So when the song doesn't play, just click the 'Watch on Youtube' link and it'll bring it up for you in another window.


Back at the ranch...


So I think I've shared a song of theirs before, but I am currently obsessed with The Civil Wars. They are soooooo good. Their harmonies are amazing and so beautiful. So up first is their track from The Hunger Games OST called Kingdom Come. 

Good right? :D Ugh. That line "Fly high across the sky from here to Kingdom Come, fall back down to where you're from..." Gets me every time. Right in the feelings. 


Second up, well, it's Taylor Swift. Now I absolutely HATED this song when I first heard it, this was way before the movie came out but I don't have much patience for the Swift and her voice can be on the verge of irritating sometimes. Too breathy..? I think that may be it. But since listening to it over and over, I've decided I do love it. Not as much as The Civil Wars track but the fact that they feature on this song with Swifty helps a lot. Here's Safe & Sound. 



The last one I'll put from the soundtrack is Come Away To The Water by Maroon 5. This track features Rozzi Crane and I think that helps quite a bit actually, she definitely brings something to it. However, Adam Levine's voice cannot be denied. It is beautiful. 
It's a really great song and suits the movie perfectly without it being towards either one extreme or the other, which I found with a lot of the other songs on the album. Several of them are just so opposite, they kind of contradict themselves rather than compliment each other. 

OK that's it on The Hunger Games front. 


However, I did watch Remember Me today as well. I don't know why I do it to myself, I just ended up in tears. Anyway, it reminded me of the track that they used in the trailer for the movie... well I'm pretty sure it was a trailer for this movie, I don't care either way... it reminded me of this AWESOME song that you should listen to. 


It's Dream On by The Chemical Brothers. I believe this was on their third album, Surrender, and is personally a favourite of mine. Enjoy.


That's all folks. 
I'm going to go..... "Sleep on, Dream on" ;) 


~HL

Sigur Rós - Valtari

Tweet

Oh. My. Word. So I'd been trying to track down this album (Valtari) and I finally found it on Monday. I love Sigur Rós. Now just forget for a minute the fact that I can barely pronounce their name and their songs aren't even in English... Because their music is just wonderful. Like, serious heaven up in here. It's like sex for your ears... forget I just said that. 

But seriously this album is pure wonder, and heartbreaking, and curious, and slightly experimental. And now I MUST get tickets for Bestival so I can see them live at their only UK show. You need to check this out... 

For those that have never heard of them, it's most likely that you have actually heard their music. A song they did called 'Hoppípolla' is one of their most famous songs and was used on television a great deal, bringing them a lot of attention at the time. Several of their other songs have been used in film trailers and movies (Vanilla Sky) as well... Wikipedia can probably tell you this but I just want people to give them a chance. Everyone should know about Sigur Rós. 

Also if you've been about the past couple of days you might have seen the video release for their track 'Fjögur Píanó' which features actor Shia LaBeouf. Actually in the buff. (Had to be done.)

Anyway, I didn't know which song I wanted to share with you... so you're getting two :D Lucky YOU!

This track is what made me want to buy this album. It's different from the previous stuff I've heard from them. In fact the whole album seems that way. It's all very ethereal... The word I used to describe it is possessive. I don't know why, that's just how it is. 

Sigur Rós - Dauðalogn

So yes, this song debuted on the series finale of The Vampire Diaries (seriously, I'm so in love with their soundtrack supervisor.) It was wonderful and such a perfect song that fit so brilliantly to the devastating scene taking place. I don't know how many times I've listened to this song, just over and over again... all 6 minutes and 37 seconds but I swear I tear up, if not cry, every single time. It's just amazing. 

Anyway, enough gushing. On to the next one. 

This is the one song on the album that just drew me in so completely. I tend to ignore critics but they seem to have at least this right. This song is the highlight. 

Sigur Rós - Varúð

This album is by no means going to be everyone's cup of tea. This band is not going to suddenly grow millions and millions of fans from the release of this album. But more people should be listening to them. They are such a unique band and one that hasn't been so publicized in the media and charts etc. It took me a while to find them and enjoy their music but it's definitely happening now and I just wanted to spend this post dedicated to my new favourite album. 

It will be on repeat for at least a couple of weeks. I cannot wait to go for a drive so I can put this CD on so f-in loud. 

~HL

P.S. I have more songs to offer continuing on from the previous post, but I really had to get this one out... so next post, more delicious tunes all picked out and ready to go! 

Closer (2004)

Tweet Just a quick post because I'm super tired and I totally should have done this earlier when I was thinking about it but, of course, I'm the BEST procrastinator in the world so...


First off, the song that has been plaguing me, or you know, filling my mind with unicorns and rainbows with how awesome it is - On 'n' On by Justice.


Like, SO amazing. I love this song. I remember downloading their album because I really liked Civilization, which everyone knows by now, but it's taken me ages to actually sit and listen to the whole thing. However, I recently had a long train journey to fill with beautiful music so I listened it all. I picked On 'n' On at random, like I usually do, judging a song by its title. It did not disappoint and then it bleeds straight into the next song on the album Brianvision. Also goooood.


I'm pretty sure they've released it as a single now which is unsurprising as it's one of the few songs on the album that actually has lyrics. So hopefully more people will hear it but if not.... Here it is. Use headphones and walk down the street to it, I dare you!



OK. I just watched the video for the first time. Oh my God is it WEIRD...!? Think I'll stick to listening to it instead of watching this. Also, get the album version... there's an extra verse which is awesome...and it's just generally better.


Next order of business. I just re-watched Closer. I LOVE this movie. Insufferable people doing insufferable things to each other. Such is life. Anyway, besides Jude Law irritating me by generally being Jude Law, I really do love this movie, it makes me weep but also because I love Damien Rice who sings the track which runs through the movie, The Blower's Daughter.


It's one of those songs where you hear it and immediately think of the film instead of the artist singing it. Which is what I love about some music.




Listen and weep. Then watch Closer if you haven't...or even if you have, and weep some more.

That is all. 


Enjoy. 


~HL

'Start blogging!' - Yeah I'll get right on that...

Tweet OK here goes...

So it’s 2am and I decided that there’s no better time to start this blog than right now.

This is the first entry and will likely be the most long winded entry, so bare with me.

I completed my university degree 15 days ago, although technically it doesn’t finish until the 10^th June and I won’t be able to collect my results until the 10^th July. I actually didn’t even think it would be that soon but either way I'm not too confident about the results. 
You see, as it turns out, I don’t think university was a great fit for me. I’ve never been much of an academic scholar but I wanted a focus in my life, I needed time to figure out what I wanted to do, but you see, people (family) won’t generally give you the time and space you need to do that without breathing down your neck, begging you to sort your life out. It’s annoying but I can’t say I blame them. I beg myself daily to get it together. So I decided to go to university. The question my parents asked when I told them: “Why on earth would you want to go to university?”

I’m still asking myself.

So 3 years have flown by and although there were some really great times and I met some fantastic people, it turns out that writing 3000 word essay’s about the music industry in China doesn’t quite do it for me. (*Note: I studied Music Management) I'm predicting a 2:2 for my final grade... which isn’t a 2:1, which unfortunately is what you kinda need to get graduate jobs etc. Massive disappointment, I know. (Not sarcasm btw.)

However, I cannot do anything about that now and I have to move on. What I did learn within my 3 years at uni was something that I knew along was I wanted to do. I want to work in sync. For those that don’t know and are interested; sync is when music is combined with a moving visual image. So basically those songs that are played in television adverts, TV programmes, trailers, movies, in games and the like.

The job title that I want: Music Supervisor. This is ‘The Dream Job’. And is also the job I am unlikely to ever have. ‘Cause I’m a pessimist and I don’t believe in luck.

But I’d also really love to work with adverts. So that’s my aim for now. You see though, the only experience I have in the actual music industry is my degree and my absolute passion for music. Not a lot that’s going to set me apart, let’s be frank.

But music has always been there for me. HUGE cliché I know, so call it altruistic or whatever but I want music to be there for other people too. And that is my focus in life.

I've always loved music from such a young age, I always knew the latest releases even when I was 8/9 years old. Listening to Garbage was my turning point, I have to say, and they will be featured on this blog at some point but I truly discovered my love for music when I watched Garden State. The soundtrack is IMMENSE and I love every single second of it and the movie. (Please go watch it, like right now.)

There’s a reason Zach Braff won a Grammy Award for that soundtrack album. Go buy it, YOU FOOLS!

So every entry will feature a different song. A song I want you to listen to and most likely a song that has been loved by me and listened by me so many times I can’t count. A song that has influenced me and a song that I want to influence you.

Today is this gem from the ever loved Garden State OST. Kinda fitting, no?
Frou Frou - "Let Go"


I'm out. Until later...


~HL


P.S. They won't all be this long, I promise. (*Things every single blogger says.)